Gardenbees
Field Bee
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2010
- Messages
- 568
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Gloucestershire
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 3
No sign of my honeybees collecting pollen just yet, but I spotted a queen bumblebee collecting winter aconite pollen today, despite the very recent hard frost. When I last kept bees (ages ago) they used to really struggle in spring sometimes, and often needed quite a bit of extra food once they started breeding. With this in mind (and the luxury of a long garden to play with) I have filled the garden with early pollen and nectar plants this year. It won't amount to all that much for a colony of honeybees, but it might help them early on. It's interesting to see that the bumblebees at least are going to benefit from this policy.
I'd be interested to hear which early plants have been popular with other peoples' bees (including bumbles). Winter aconite and witch hazel seem firm favourites here.
I'd be interested to hear which early plants have been popular with other peoples' bees (including bumbles). Winter aconite and witch hazel seem firm favourites here.